Why Fitbit’s awesome new running update is a great move: pace, route, distance

Fitbit has always been one of our favourite app and tracker combos for monitoring steps and calorie intake throughout the day, but this week it announced a bunch of new updates to its iOS app that could catapult it into the wearable stratosphere. Now don’t get too excited unless you take running seriously (if you DO, get very excited), because the updates are all centered around bringing you a running experience set to compete with the top apps in the pavement pounding market, like Nike+ Running and RunKeeper.

MobileRun is the name of Fitbit’s beefed up running tracking feature and allows users to keep tabs on the distance they’ve run, the pace they’ve maintained, the route they’ve taken, and all kinds of other information that’s served up in real-time. Handily, it also has advanced music controls, so you have the say about what you listen to from within the app itself.

But it’s not just about giving you more visibility in real-time, Fibit’s latest update also adds in long-term tracking, so you can monitor how often you exercise and how you’ve improved over time with the help of charts, graphs and a calendar. For now this is still geared up to running in the Fitbit app itself, but you can now team Fitbit’s tech know-how up with other third-party apps, so you can keep a record of other work-outs too.

For those without cash to spend on a wearable, don’t worry, Fitbit’s MobileTrack feature for those without activity tracking devices has also had a revamp too, bringing more accurate monitoring to your mobile.

For those who live a fairly active lifestyle, basic activity trackers are a great way of monitoring what you get up to. However, for those who run regularly, they often have to be supplemented with other apps and devices, it looks like Fitbit could be eliminating that need and choosing running as its first “specialism” so to speak, is a really great move and will be sure to bag it some more dedicated fans.